Demons of the Past
by Hydroc
Summary: This is after Garaa recovery arc. There's only one OC. If you want more details, read the story. Rated M for blood in later chapters, plus maybe some lemons...very low possibility. New Chapter five is now up. Give this a chance and read.
1. Chapter 1

A cold morning fog. The sounds of the world were silent. Nothing stirred. Even the air had seemed to stop moving. It was if the fog had a spell upon the land. All the warmth and life that had been on and near the path was now drained away. This included the life of the now nameless sound ninja; the corpse that now motionless upon the road in a pool of its own blood. Its deaf ears could not hear the sounds of footsteps walking away, nor could its eyes see the three-cloaked figures walking away. There it sat, slowly being engulfed by what it was surrounded by. A cold morning fog.

Light shone through Naruto's window, hitting his eye quite nicely. This of course caused his eye to snap right open, which in turn blinded his left eye. He sat up and rubbed the eye, vainly attempting to restore sight into it. "This is not a good way to start off the day," he said sleepily. He took off his nightcap and immediately got dressed. His stomach growled, but he knew he couldn't eat. He had to much to do today. He was going to have to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner. He hung his head at the thought and left his house, with the sun barely breaking the horizon.

Since it was this early in the morning, Naruto was surprised to see what looked like a traveler. He had on a cloak that covered everything, even his face. Naruto sighed inwardly. This guy probably was trouble, and he had to deal with it. Naruto sighed to himself. Why did it have to be today, of all days? Walking up to the man, Naruto held out a hand to stop him. "Excuse me, can I ask what your doing out so early in the morning?"

The man stopped about and inch away from Naruto's hand. "I'm just enjoying the coolness of the morning. Is that a crime?" He asked sarcastically. This guy's attitude annoyed Naruto. "No, it isn't, but I'm just making sure there's no trouble."

The man laughed. "Well, then let me go, and there will be no trouble." Naruto glared at the man. He really was starting to piss him off. "Now look here…" Naruto started, but stopped after the man revealed one of his eyes to Naruto.

A woman screamed as a sword ran through her chest. A man got sliced in half from an unknown assailant as a house caught on fire. Arrows pierced into a young boy's body from all sides; these and many more horrific images ran through Naruto's head for what seemed like hours.

Tsnuade, Jiraya, Kakashi, Might Guy and Kurenai all stood around the hospital bed that now contained what might be called Naruto's body, though it could hardly be called a body. If it weren't for incredibly fast healing, Naruto's body would have been a smear. Tsnuade had managed to heal all the life threatening wounds, yet his body was still covered with seep cuts, bruises, burns, scraps, and almost any other type of injury one could think of. It wasn't his body that worried them. It seemed that Naruto's mind had snapped. "You think this was the work of Itachi?" Might Guy asked.

Jiraya answered that question for Tsunade so she could continue her thinking. "No. If this were Itachi's work, he would have taken Naruto with him. This is from someone else." Kakashi shook his head sadly. He could barely stand to look at his student in this condition. He instead decided to talk to the increasing crowd that was growing in the hospital's waiting room, hoping to hear word on Naruto's condition. Turning his back, he headed from the room and down to the waiting room.

As Kakashi walked into the waiting room, he was assaulted with questions from everyone. Ignoring the screaming of questions, Kakashi took a count of who was there. Everyone he expected, and then some, was all there. Kakashi put up his hand, and everyone immediately fell silent. "Now listen, Naruto's going to be okay. He's just a little…banged up. Tsunade's healing him, so I'm confident he'll make a good recovery. Since he is in the hospital, I can only allow a few of you to see him at the moment."

At this, murmurs started up. Kakashi continued. "I'm heading back up to Naruto's room, and only Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Lee can come with me. The rest you can leave, and I'll make sure Naruto knows you all came by when he wakes up." The crowd slowly started to leak out. The five Kakashi had named slowly made their way up the stairs to Naruto's room. Kakashi was about to head up for himself, when he felt a tugging against his sleeve. He turned and saw Hinata standing there, a wrapped box in her hands. "Excuse me, Kakashi sensei. C…Could you please give this to Naruto?" she asked timidly. Kakashi smiled behind his mask.

"Don't you think it would be better if you gave it to himself yourself?" he asked, motioning to the stairs. At this Hinata blushed, and started walking up the stairs. Half way up, Kakashi and she encountered Choji, green and holding his mouth, running down the stairs to what they could guess was the nearest bathroom. Finally, as they reached the top f the stairs, they encountered the main group. All of them looked ill. "Was Naruto a little to bloody for you guys?" Kakashi asked.

"Sensei, you told us he was a little banged up. That is not a little banged up!" Sakura accused him. Kakashi shrugged. "Would you have preferred the truth, and have me tell you he was in a near death state?" At this, Hinata gasped. Kakashi glanced down at her. "Well, now that you know, don't worry. He's stable, and won't die." Hinata nodded, and walked over to the room with the open door. She poked her head around the corner and gasped at the sight of Naruto's torso and head. The teachers didn't even bother to look over at here, Kurenai just waved for her to come in. Hinata put her gift for Naruto on the bedside and joined the teachers surrounding Naruto's body. Even though he was in pretty bad shape, Hinata could help blushing at the sight of Naruto's bare torso. He had certainly gotten more muscular. Everyone stood there in silence.

Hinata got a fly whimsy. She slowly reached out her hand to touch Naruto's face. Just as her fingers slightly brushed his cheek, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. He sat up; his face was not and Inch away from hers. His eyes snapped open, and the eyes that stared into hers were not the blue eyes that she had wished to stare into. They were those of the accursed demon fox. "The Kunai went right through her heart!" He shouted. He then went limped, and seemed to fall back asleep. Kurenai had to escort the now shaking Hinata out of the room. The other teachers were shaken now, except for Tsnuade and Jiraya. Tsunade was actually smiling. "You figure out what was wrong with him?" Jiraya asked Tsunade. "You bet I have" was her response.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was setting. People were starting to stop they daily chores of life and enjoy food and time together. Smoke was drifting lazily from house's chimneys. The streets were gradually getting more deserted. The air hand a nice breeze to it. It was a very pleasant evening to those who could enjoy it.

Naruto was one of the few who could not enjoy the evening. In fact, it seemed to him he could never enjoy anything again. At the moment, he was alone in the hospital room. He was glad of this. He had stopped seeing the images a long time ago. When he had come to, Tsunade had explained to him that she thought that he had been affected by a normally moderately powerful Jutsu. However, it seemed to have a huge effect on him specifically. He had been pondering why for a long time now, and he still didn't have any answer. So there he laid, eyes closed, counting his heartbeats until the answer came to him. Soon enough, it came to him, but it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

A voice popped into his head, the voice he knew was the demon fox's. "I'm surprised your not up and training by now."

"Why don't you just go away for awhile? You didn't have to see all those people die in all those gruesome ways," he said as he visibly shuddered.

"I saw what you saw. I've probably seen that many people or more die in my lifetime," was the fox's un-empathetic reply.

At this, Naruto's eyes widened. "You! You killed all those people! That's why there was so many!"

"Think idiot! Did you see me in any of those visions? No, so those people can't have been my victims."

"Well…maybe it had to do with all your victims. Maybe it just showed them dying in different ways?"

"So you're saying that this guy knew about all my victims over the past thousands of years and managed to recreate them all dying differently?"

Naruto shook his head. The demon was right. There must be something else. He just had to think.

"If you ask nicely, I'll tell you what he did," came the fox's voice.

"Just tell me and get it over with," demanded Naruto.

"Say please."

"No."

"Say it boy, or do you want to go through this again when you confront this guy?"

Naruto sighed inwardly. Damn this fox. "Fine. Please tell me what Jutsu he used."

"That's better. I believe he used the "phantoms of the mist" jutsu."

Naruto let his silence speak for him.

"Ugh, dumb kit. It's where one uses the deaths surrounding peoples past against them. It can only be used against those who've killed. Since people usually don't kill to much in their lives, it's mainly used to stun for a few seconds. That's all you really need. Against you…well, it wouldn't affect you normally, but with me sealed in you…that's a different story."

Naruto frowned. "So how am I supposed to beat this guy?"

"Do it blindfolded."

"Blindfolded?"

"Yes. Besides, learning to fight blind will help you fight anyone else that has eye powers," at this, the demon fox coughed, and Naruto knew who he was talking about.

"So, how do you suggest I do this?" Naruto asked.

"Tear off a piece of you hospital blanket, and tie it around your eyes. The just live with it on."

Naruto sighed. Why not give it a try? He did what the fox told him to, and then got out of the bed, and started to get dressed.

"This is going to be a very bad training period." Naruto muttered to himself, trying to ignore the snickering of the fox within his mind. "Damn Fox…"

Night was coming, and soon, it would be time to go out again. The cloaked teenager watched as the moon was in the sky, even though the sun had just barely set. It was going to be a nice night. Ideal for what he planned. Making the seals, the teenager created a water clone of himself. Then, casting off his cloak, he ran out of the village with his clone. He had to do this quickly, and it was quite dangerous, but the past had to be honored. The Teenager smirked. They were all stupid. You can't kill a demon. All it takes is something of the demons; a strand of hair, or a shirt, even a sword, and that demon would rise from the grave to terrify all. After all, Gen'ei Momochi had a legacy to carry on.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto was angry. He was very angry. In fact, he had to use almost all of his will power to not allow himself to transform into his four chakra-tailed form. The blindfold was one of his biggest challenges yet. It had taken him about twenty minutes just to find his clothing. Then, after the painful trip of finding his way out of the hospital, getting to his home was taking forever. Twice he had to ask for directions, and once again he was lost. It didn't help hearing that damned fox laughing at him every step of the way either.

After walking for what seemed to be an hour, Naruto felt his way to the side of a building. He sat down and hung his head. "You know what fox? I think all that stuff you were telling me earlier was crap."

The fox answered amusedly. "You really think so? Why do you think that?"

"Because it's late at night and I'm not at my house! I don't even know where my house is!"

"How do you know it's late at night?"

"I…" Naruto stopped. How had he'd known it was late at night? He thought a second. Well, he heard crickets, and no footsteps on the street. Oddly, he could also here the building behind him settling down, like what houses do late at night. Also, he could smell smoke. However, this was ember smoke, meaning the houses that had fireplaces had put out their fires, and they had been put out a while ago.

This made Naruto blink in surprise. So he was in the urban part of the village. That meant his house was nearby. He was almost home. He started to get up, but sleep overtook him. His last conscious thoughts were those of the fox's. "Well, it finally seems your getting the hang of it."

Naruto woke up with a start. Though his eyes opened, he couldn't see anything. He started to panic. Then he remembered. He stood up and yawned. He wondered what time of day it was. Naruto put a hand to his ear and listened. The bustle of people was pretty loud. The streets must have been packed. So it must be lunchtime. His stomach growling loudly told him that as well.

Walking out into where he knew the street was, he set off for the bridge. Maybe Kakashi and Sakura were waiting for him still. Tat was virtually impossible, but a guy had a right to dream. His stomach growl was realities slap in the face for him. Not only could he not find anything, but also he kept smacking into things. Some of those things were people, and had a tendency to smack back. He noticed something though.

He couldn't avoid hitting into people, but every time one of the people took a swipe at him, he was taking less of a full impact from the blow. His reflexes were improving at a tremendous rate, and after awhile, he was unconsciously dodging the blows. So now, Naruto decided to try dodging the people all together. However, he was not that good, and the next thing Naruto knew, he was at the bridge, covered in various liquids and foods he had picked up knocking into stalls. However, no one stopped him and forced him to pay. Actually, as he had gotten closer to the bridge, people started to dodge him instead of the other way around. He could tell from the sound of their footsteps. Also, people were starting to whisper about him.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked himself as he got to the bridge. The clunking of the wood gave comfort to him. At least he knew where he was. Wait a minute, how did he find his way here? Naruto shook his head and decided not to think about it.

"Kakashi sensei? Sakura-Chan? Are you here?" he called out. The silence answered his question. He sighed and stumbled his way over to the railing of the bridge. This was tough work. Naruto's patience with this training was starting to grow thin. Worst of all, he knew he couldn't do anything about this. His other senses did need fine-tuning, and this was a very effective way of tuning them, or so he hoped.

His ears caught the sound of footsteps. They were coming at a quick pace, but it sounded like they were moving slowly at the same time. It seems this person was in a hurry, but was moving cautiously. Not trying to figure out how he knew that, Naruto turned to where the sound was coming from. His impatience got the best of him, and he decided to take a little peek. He lifted up the blindfold and opened his eyes. Two things happened at once as soon as the light hit his pupils.

First off, everything went white. His eyes felt like they were on fire. He had just enough sense to close them and pull down the blindfold before he collapsed. Secondly, his head started to pound. All the rest of his senses became dull. He could no longer hear, see, smell, or taste. All he could do was feel, and all he felt was pain.

In a few seconds, everything went back to normal, though he still couldn't steady himself enough to stand. He heard the footsteps again. This time they were at a quicker pace, coming towards him very fast. The person had lost all sense of caution. He could even hear the breathing, but it was to far away to use it to help figure out who it was. Not wanting to be seen in such a fashion, Naruto grabbed the bridges railing, and tried to haul himself up.

It almost worked. About halfway up, his knees buckled, and he tumbled to the ground. He heard the person stop beside him and kneel down. From the smell, he could tell it was a girl. "Who is that?" he asked the person.

"Naruto-Kun! Are you alright?" came his response. It was Hinata.


	4. Chapter 4

A trail of blood was the one thing Gen'ei did not want behind him. However, it seems that his body was not going to let him get away with it. The steady dripping of his blood from his wounds was starting to irritate Gen'eis'. It didn't matter though. He had managed to steal it and that was all that mattered. He grinned as he shifted the heavy weight on his back. He was now truly going to succeed where he normally would have failed.

He looked up at the hidden leaf village's gates. It was about noon, so people were walking the streets. In his condition, he would draw a lot of attention, and he did not want that. Sighing, he made his way off the road and sat behind a tree. He took this opportunity to bandage up his arm and heal. Tonight, he was going to need a lot of energy, and every second he had to gain it back counted.

Naruto didn't know how the hell he had ended up in this situation. How it had gotten from starting off with getting up early in the morning yesterday to him being on this bridge, willingly blinding himself temporarily, he didn't know.

"N-Naruto-Kun, are you alright?" Hinata's question woke Naruto up from his thoughts.

"Hinata? What are you doing here of all places?" Naruto asked.

"Tsunade called a-a bunch of us together and told us y-you were missing. She said that you w-weren't in good condition, and you n-needed to be found. I-I just happened to be looking h-here." Came her response.

"Hinata, could you please help me up? I don't think my legs will support me yet." Naruto asked. He reached out a hand to find one of her shoulders, but instead he felt his hand touch her cheek. This made Naruto blink in surprise under his blindfold. Her cheek was really warm. Almost immediately, he felt her move her face away from his hand. "She must have been blushing…but why?" he thought to himself.

"S-sure, I-I-I'll help you up N-Naruto-Kun." He heard her say as he felt her arms under his shoulders. Using their combined strengths, they managed to get Naruto up, and he supported himself on the railing, as he felt the strength return to his legs slowly. "B-better Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto sighed. "To tell you the truth Hinata, I'm not better. I hate having to go thru this." He grabbed at the blindfold as if to tear it off, but he didn't. Naruto knew that first off, he didn't want to hurt his eyes again, and secondly, he had to endure the training. "If I just had taken time for breakfast, I wouldn't have to deal with any of this!"

Fate dealt Naruto a weird hand. Unknown to Naruto, his eyes had produced tears due to the pain the light had caused. Only now did they begin to fall. However, Hinata saw them as fresh tears due to Naruto's frustration. So as Naruto waited till his legs gained strength, he felt a hand brush away what felt like a tear suddenly on his cheek. That was followed by a hug; a very, very, close hug. "Hinata?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

"Naruto-kun, when they told me you'd make a complete recovery, I-I knew that they must be holding something back. It was very brave of you to come out here on your own like this…" Hinata's voice was a whisper in his ear, and he knew she was blushing furiously. He could feel the heat from her face on his without them touching. "…I'm sorry that y-you'll never be able to s-see how much…"she paused, choosing different words. "Y-You don't have t-to do this alone a-anymore. I'll b-be your eyes and s-stay beside y-you f-forever."

Naruto's eyes snapped open. From inside, the Kyuubi roared with laughter at Naruto's dilemma. "Oh, this is rich! She thinks you're permanently blind! She confessed her love to you when you can't see her! I'm going to love watching you deal with this one kit."

"This is why normal foxes can't talk." He growled to the Kyuubi in his mind.

"Yell at me all you like. You're going to have to deal with this anyway."

Naruto sighed. "Hinata, um…I-I'm not blind."

He felt her loosen the hug. "W-What?" she asked timidly.

"I'm not blind Hinata. I'm just training with a blindfold on so that I can sharpen my other senses. I am making a full recovery. When I fell down, it was because the light hit my eyes, and my eyes weren't ready for it. I was going to take the blindfold off tonight."

Naruto felt Hinata slowly release him. "O-oh…W-Well I-I'm h-h-happy for t-that." Naruto's keen ears picked up a dripping sound and he faintly smelled salt water. He knew she was now facing away from him and crying.

Naruto did some quick deep soul searching within him. Hinata had been one of the few people who had never made fun of him, or did anything bad to him. In fact, she had shown nothing but kindness and caring to him. At the moment, he didn't know what he felt for her, and that's what tore him. He knew what being a reject was like, and that was the last thing he wanted anyone else to feel. If he didn't love her, he was sure she'd never recover.

"Now's the time kit. What will you do?" the Kyuubi sneered at him.

Naruto took a deep breath. He closed the distance between himself and Hinata and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey, give me the chance to say yes before you turn on the tears." He said softly into her ear as wiped away some of the tears that now adorned her face. She gasped at his touch and words. "Meet me here tomorrow evening at seven thirty. I'll treat you to a nice dinner at the best place in town." With that, he kissed her lightly on the cheek, turned and walked away.

He had expected to render her speechless, and he had. Though he was a little shaken up, and now had no clue where he was going, Naruto was grinning ear to ear.

"I think that went pretty well, fox." He gloated to the Kyuubi.

"Well, don't think you're such hot shit." The Kyuubi growled back, annoyed that his fun was ruined.


	5. Chapter 5

His nostrils twitched at the smell of cooking meat. It smelled really good, but his belly was sated. In fact, at that moment, he wouldn't mind never eating again. Shikamaru's friend Chouji on the other hand, was a different story. That's why the smell of cooking meat remained. Chouji just kept on ordering it. Shikamaru sighed to himself. His wallet would soon be empty if this kept up.

Of course Ino wasn't going to help him pay for this. No, she'd just saw he'd dug his own grave by making that bet with Chouji. He couldn't believe no one in the village would challenge Chouji to an eating contest. Not even challenge him. This was too troublesome.

Shikamaru also wondered how Chouji could eat after seeing Naruto like he was. Shikamaru had eaten his meal with his eyes closed, preferring not to see a flashback of some of Naruto's charred flesh because of the meat. Besides, they shouldn't even be eating. They should be looking for Naruto.

Shikamaru wasn't worried though. Naruto could handle himself, plus even graver news had come up.

A facility had been broken into within the hidden village of the mist. The attacker took out three guards, and stole only one thing. He hadn't managed to find out what was stolen, but he had found out one of the guards was a veteran of over a hundred battles, and he was found just like Naruto, except a lot less extreme. He was still dead though, and that worried Shikamaru. If the same person who was here had escaped from the hidden village of the mist, who's to say this person wasn't back in Konoha already?

Ino flicked him on the side of his head, waking him up from his daydream. He glanced over at her annoyed. "What was that for?" he asked

"You were muttering something. What was it?" she asked.

Shikamaru sighed. "It'd be to troublesome to tell you." The truth was that he had obtained all the Information illegally. If this got out, it would not be good for him.

Ino was about to respond, but a jingling at the entrance to the restaurant stopped her. She and Shikamaru looked at the person who entered. It was a cloaked ninja, but Shikamaru could easily see the headband for the hidden village of the mist on his forehead, since it was slid down to the side.

"He must be here because he's tracked the thief." Shikamaru muttered to himself. The ninja sat down at a far table and ordered something. Shikamaru squinted. The ninja had something strapped to his back.

As if almost on command, the thing on his back dropped a little bit, and Shikamaru caught a pretty good glimpse of it before the ninja put it under his cloak again.

It was a sword, a gigantic sword. Shikamaru had never seen one so big. He had heard of one though. Naruto told him about it, but he forgot what it related to.

Shikamaru made his thinking seal and tried to remember. Naruto had just come back from a mission. The mission had been a tough mission. Team seven had encountered a very powerful ninja…with a big sword.

Shikamaru's eyes snapped open at the realization and disbelief of who this ninja was. It was Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. When his eyes were open however, they were staring into the other ninja's eyes. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut, if you want to keep it on your face." was the growl that echoed from under the face wrappings.

This caught Ino and Chouji by surprise. Who did this guy think he was? Shikamaru knew the situation was hopeless at the moment, since he hadn't readied a weapon. He nodded. "It was said you died though…" Shikamaru stated softly. The other ninja just chuckled. "Demons don't die." With that, he departed from the restaurant swiftly.

Kakashi watched as Gen'ei left the restaurant. If he had decided to impersonate any other person then Zabuza, Kakashi might have been amused. However, this presented a serious problem, especially since Gen'ei had managed to steal back Zabuza's zanbato. This was very serious indeed. It was even more pressing since the real Gen'ei was behind Kakashi, watching him watch his water clone. "You can come out Gen'ei. Please don't underestimate me like Zabuza did."

Gen'ei revealed himself from the shadows of the alley they were both in. "I would appreciate you calling me by Zabuza, at least for now," came the response.

Kakashi shook his head. He didn't understand why Gen'ei would do this. Gen'ei's voice was very nice to listen to, not all like Zabuza's. Also, Gen'ei was actually a nice person. In short, he and Zabuza were total opposites.

"Gen'ei, why are you doing this? You are just Zabuza's nephew. You don't owe him anything." Kakashi turned to face him. The real Gen'ei was wearing a simple blue cloth shirt and shorts. He had his short black hair spiked down, and his headband on normally. Nothing about him spoke of Zabuza.

Gen'ei smirked. "I know I don't owe Zabuza anything. I'm just using him as my image to get my plan to work. That's all."

Kakashi shook his head. "What ever it is that you're planning, you know it won't succeed. This world is filled with powerful shinobi, and currently you're only a little bit stronger then Zabuza at the moment."

Gen'ei turned his back on Kakashi. "True, but I have something he didn't." With that, he started walking into the deep recesses of the alley. "Oh, Kakashi, out of a matter of respect, let me warn you. Tell anyone you care about to stay off the streets tomorrow. If they are on the streets, they'll die." With that, Gen'ei disappeared.

Kakashi shook his head. This was going to be bothersome indeed.


End file.
